Hey everyone, I'm ready for a critique of my new site.

[kurgan warrior]

Hello,

I launched a site about a month ago and would like a few critiques. Its not hosted with powweb but thats because I am familiar with yahoo. I'd like a powweb critique though because a) yahoo doesn't have a mature community to ask for this from and b) I respect the other critiques i've read here and I have learned quite a bit here too.

The site url is www.AtvStyle.com (http://www.atvstyle.com).

I've put a lot of effort in and hope it shows but I'd love to hear where it can be improved too. Thanks in advance.

edit: I should add that the front page displays partial articles only so I'm less concerned with layout there, the "atv articles" section contains the full articles which are, in the long run, more important than the main page.

Regards

KW

[Kitchensink108]

It's decent right now. It might be good to separate the left column from the right somehow, just to better define those sections (a border, shadow, or something). There's a lot of inconsistency with the site, though. The different color scheme on each section isn't too bad but I don't think it's something I would've done. The biggest problem I have is with the navigation. If you go to one of the other pages, you get a smaller, graphical nav specific to that section. It's generally a good idea to keep the main nav on every page.

Code seems fine, I can't really say anything too bad about that.

So, biggest thing is make the navigation a bit more user-friendly.

[YvetteKuhns]

The web page doesn't fit 800x600 screen resolution without scrolling horizontally. Yes, some of us still use this size to read text. My husband doesn't like it when I size up the resolution. He is over 50 years old and wears bifocals, but he does like to drive. Keep that in mind.

The header banner What's in Your Garage? looks Celtic to me. The font is cool and green, but very Celtic and not fitting with the topic of the website. There is green elsewhere, and I expected the website to be Irish! The forums have a more appropriate color scheme and the website should match them.

Why are there so many separate forums? That reminds me of the car clubs that arrive at the car shows. The Mopar club parks in one area, the F-body Camaros and Firebirds in another, the Mustangs in another and the Corvettes won't park near the Mustangs but near the street rods. I didn't think the different ATVs did that, too. ;)

I know you said you were less concerned with the home page layout, but that is often the first page your visitor sees. The best contents and links should be visible in the first screen view. You may want to use a smaller image and one summary or intro paragraph for each article to fit more into the first screen view. And/or you can make two columns for the main contents.

Seeing a kid on an ATV often makes me nervous, because we have seen too many get hurt. An article on safety and law is a great idea. The photo shows a cute kid with who I would guess is the daddy. But neither have a helmet! Daddy could use gloves, too. Gee, I hurt myself while sledding with my son a few years ago. Our stepson hit a fence with a snowmobile going much faster.

There was mention of riding during daylight which is really much smarter than the guys that were driving in the corn fields where there were no roads. They crossed the back roads where there were no houses or street lights and I was driving home from work one night after 9 PM. They looked liked scared deer as I tried to stop my old Chevy Nova which didn't have power brakes! They saw MY lights, but I didn't see them until they were right in front of me. Well, God must have been watching, because no one got hurt.

I just noticed the Next Page link on the left under the banner ad. That is really weird. Maybe that should be at the bottom of the page and renamed to More Articles or something. The home page really needs something attractive to its audience. I want to see a larger image of someone riding an ATV like the one in the upper left corner. Or an image that appears more in the center of the page.

Okay, my son just looked over my shoulder and he said he wanted to see pictures of more models to grab his attention! And he would like to see video games (related). Mark is 9 years old and very opinionated. He also has been online for many years, so he can tell you that there are plenty of websites with which to compete.

Mark said he would also like to see a supermodel (you know, girls!) on an ATV. Maybe you can encourage some of your visitors to send/post pictures of themselves. Mark said your What's In Your Garage? banner is lame! It doesn't mention ATVs and it is not exciting. How about Proud to Ride My ATV ? Mark approves of that idea. He also agreed with me about the colors - the forum colors look better. He thought there was too much green on the main site.

[Doc C]

Shouldn't it be What's In Your Garage?

[YvetteKuhns]

Shouldn't it be What's In Your Garage?

It is possible that the chosen font didn't have that special character. I have seen that and had to choose another font just to include that special character, in this case, the apostrophe.

[Kitchensink108]

It doesn't look like it would be too hard to photoshop an apostrophe in. Maybe even slice off the end of another letter and rotate it. Bad grammar bothers me, though, so I'd go to decent lengths to fix it if it was my site.

[YvetteKuhns]

You can type the first part up to the apostrophe in the same font. On another layer, create the apostrophe in another font. Then type the rest of the text in the original font. Or type all the letters on one line and leave a space for the apostrophe. Create a new layer for the apostrophe. This is assuming the apostrophe is not an available character in the chosen font.

I still think the entire line and choice of font doesn't fit with the site. My son and I would like to see Proud to Ride My ATV or another more appropriate line. If you asked what was in my garage this time last year, I would have said: a 1966 Cadillac, oil, windshield washer fluid, plenty of tools, some old tires and other stuff.

[Doc C]

What's in my garage? Who knows. I lost it in the divorce!! :)

[YvetteKuhns]

Doc C, sorry to hear that. We used to hide items in our garage or barn for friends. One person sold a car to my husband before his divorce just to buy it back later. Or that was his plan. Don decided to keep the car! :D Well, the guy left the car for over a year and didn't pay rent. Don let others (stepson, neighbor) do this, so he thought he could, too.

[rodaniel]

I'm with Yvette on the banner - I like the coloring, but the Uncial lettering doesn't work for this.

And definitely, there needs to be an apostrophe (http://www.2dolphins.com/2007/01/apostrophobia.html) in the "What's" type. Also, wouldn't "Atv" be more properly spelled "ATV" since it is an abbreviation?

And lastly, if the articles are your focal point, maybe there needs to be some way to get a more noticable reference to them right in the main body area of the page...

Rob O.
www.2dolphins.com (http://www.2dolphins.com)

[soundwash]

(/extremely unprofessional opinion)

hi, just passing through.. nice site. i used to ride many a moon ago.. i like the use of brand colors on the forums. tho i would agree with Yvette about the the Celtic looking font for the site title. -seems out of place w/the rest.

(btw Yvette, i'm going to take a gamble and say the site owner is partial to Kawasaki bikes.. i'm pretty sure the site frontend is in Kawasaki Green. -or at the very least, it makes for easy reading on a dark theme. *shrug*)

-from a riders point of view, the different (brand) colors in the forums make sense. (honda red, kawasaki green, etc)

imo, the site is clean & simple yet catchy enough color/picture-wise to keep me clicking around until i ran into the link to the Quadrazuma (http://www.lazareth.org/quads.htm). -at which point i went off into a daydream... ;p

-maybe a just a few more pics to wet the appetite. -tho i'm sure as
you get more postings, this will solve itself.. the site concept seems quite functional from my POV :)

anyway, find a better site title font (maybe make a custom *garage looking* font) and make getting back to the main page easier or more pronounced. -perhaps make the pic at the top of each page route back to the main page.. other than that, i'm happy :)

-s

[YvetteKuhns]

from a riders point of view, the different (brand) colors in the forums make sense. (honda red, kawasaki green, etc)


Okay, if that is the case. I can just see the car enthusiasts with Mopar club in lime green, the Blue Mountain Classic Chevy Club (55-57) using that teal green, the Camaro club using orange with black stripes, the Mustang club using red with black stripes and I have no clue for the rice burners. :D I guess that the motorists do divide themselves into groups by brands. Several of us would look like a rainbow as we fall into several categories. That may send a different message. :eek:

[soundwash]

Several of us would look like a rainbow as we fall into several categories. That may send a different message. :eek:


-lol, i'd like to see the fallout of such a msg....

anyway... good day :)

-s